Automobile

Nissan to cut hundreds of jobs due to diesel sales decline

Sunday 22/April/2018 - 10:29 AM

The UK automotive industry has received another blow due to plummeting diesel sales with Britain’s biggest car factory، Nissan، deciding to cut hundreds of jobs at its Sunderland plant، according to "Press TV".

Nissan produces its Qashqai and Juke models at the plant in northeastern England where 7،000 people work.

Last week، Jaguar Land Rover said it would shed 1،000 contract staff. The decision is taken also due to a switch by the car manufacturer in production to newer models.

Though Nissan has not confirmed any job losses، some reports say long-serving staff could be asked to take voluntary redundancy.Nissan said that the job cuts would be short-term.

"As previously communicated، we are transitioning to a new range of power-trains over the next year. As we make the operational changes required to support this، we will be managing a planned short-term reduction in power-train supply and plant volumes at NMUK in line with our 2018 Business Plan. We are now discussing these operational changes with our employees،” a Nissan spokesman said.

The Unite union announced it had been assured by the automotive giant that there would be no compulsory redundancies at Sunderland.

Unite's acting national officer Steve Bush said the union was working with Nissan "to minimize job losses associated with a short-term reduction in volumes at the car maker's Sunderland plant".

Nissan sales in Britain have fallen by more than a third so far in 2018، a substantial drop even in a dismal year for the industry، where overall demand has declined by 12%، According to The Guardian.